


Empty

by okkaaaaayyy



Category: OFF (Game)
Genre: Everyone except Batter is minor, Regret, sort of angst?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-22
Updated: 2017-02-22
Packaged: 2018-09-26 04:35:57
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9862844
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/okkaaaaayyy/pseuds/okkaaaaayyy
Summary: Regret was not something the Batter was used to feeling. And yet, as he wandered the white nothingness of the old zones, he began to feel something.





	

Regret was not something the Batter was used to feeling.  


In fact, feelings in general often seemed to escape him. He was there for a reason, and that was it; sadness, anger, fear, even happiness, were just unimportant things along the way.  


And yet, as he walked along the railroad in the empty, white land, regret gripped him like a giant spectre he couldn’t fathom fighting.  


Zone 1, purified. White, empty, blank, _dead._ All that could be heard were the whispers and wails and moans and banging of the lost memories of what used to be there. The elsen were gone, and the Batter never thought he would miss their pathetic gasps for air or fearful outlook on the simplest of things, but he did. The spectres were gone too (and wasn’t that the whole point of his mission), replaced by vaguely humanoid shapes called senturies.  


It was cold and unsettling and after exploring Zone 1, the Batter felt relief wash over him at the idea of returning to his mission.  


The catch was that his actions were not his own (they never were, even if his thoughts were his and his alone). The Player lead him to Zone 2, just as dead as they first one.  


He remembered when this place had been a bright pink, buildings stained with an eye sore of a color, making the whole place almost hard to look at. Now everything was so white and untouched that it was still hard to look at, but lacked the previous. . . charm? . . . of the original zone. He still didn’t like the original, really, but it had been better than _this._  


He made his way around, scaling the incredible number of stairs the library had. Close to the top, the Batter looked down on the world, that banging, and now a new sound, he noted absentmindedly, ringing in his ears.  


As he focused more, ready to climb up the final ladder, the new noise sounded again, and, with a feeling of sick dread, he realized what it was.  


The Judge, or at least a cat, but he was sure it was the Judge. Who else would it be? He hadn’t seen the cat since fighting the fire bird, and Valerie was dead. It could only be his former guide meowing away.  


He gripped the rail tighter as he climbed up, a strange feeling working it’s way inside of him as he reached the top. Sure, enough, the cat, white enough to match the new landscape and with teeth sharp enough to match the former spectres of the land, paced around the roof of the library.  


He said something, although he hardly remembered what even after he had said it, interrupting the wails. The cat regarded him with wide eyes, no hatred or feeling other than sadness, or perhaps loneliness, filling them. “Have you seen my dear brother?” He spoke weakly, and when the Batter didn’t answer, he turned back to pacing, muttering something that sounded suspiciously like the same question over and over again.  


As the Batter left, the wail started up again, and as hard as he could he couldn’t shut the noise out.  


\---------  


He kept going, or at this point he should’ve said the Player kept going. The Judge’s fruitless search for a brother long gone stayed with him throughout the second land, and even finding the last elsen alive couldn’t shake it from his thoughts.  


Now, along with the banging and moaning and pleas for lost family rolling around in his head, the words of the last pathetic creature joined in the chorus. “The ghosts are gone. . . The color is gone. . . Everything’s gone. . . I’m now forever safe.”  


The elsen was right, everything was gone, and the strange feeling that had attacked him back at the library returned.  


Guilt, he realized. The Batter tried to push it down, rather unsuccessfully.  


In Zone 3, there was nothing really special. It was the same unsettling feeling and strong monsters and wailing noises. At the end of it, however, he came across a room filled with blank, white emptiness. He walked through it, hating how infinite it seemed. He couldn’t get out of the area fast enough.  


\-------  


And then he thought it was over. They would continue to the Room and end this.  


Except the Player just had to get curious and explore the rooms of Zone 0. The area was a refreshing bright yellow, and the reassuring face of Zacharie greeted him there, but the feeling of dread never left the Batter.  


And he understood why it stayed with him when he found Sugar.  


A girl in a basement, talking about a duck, about a dance, telling him to say goodbye to Zacharie for her.  


He found Zacharie standing in the same place, and told him of a girl in a basement surrounded by sugar.  


There was no laugh that came with Zacharie’s words this time. “Maybe it’s better that way.” And that was it; no more words were spared for him.  


And as the Batter finally entered the Room, ready to end things, the words echoed in his head as he thought about the zones. They were empty and dead and. . . pure, devoid of anything. And, he tried to reassure himself, even though it didn’t feel like it, maybe it was better that way.

**Author's Note:**

> I really like the game OFF, and if you haven't played it, I highly recommend it. The soundtrack is really good also!  
> Once again, please point out any mistakes I may have missed in this, and give feedback if you wish.


End file.
